Debian Subproject HOWTO

Abstract

Based on his experiences starting and sustaining a development subproject within Debian, the author explains how to start one, and why subprojects are important to the vitality and quality of Debian.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2002 Ben Armstrong

This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1.1, or (at your option) any later version.

This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU Free Documentation License for more details.

A copy of the GNU Free Documentation License is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. You can also obtain it by writing to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Contents

• 1 About this document
• 1.1 Audience
• 1.2 Suggested reading
• 2 Planning to form a Debian subproject
• 2.1 Leadership
• 2.2 Defining the subproject scope
• 2.3 Initial discussion
• 3 Setting up
• 3.1 A mailing list
• 3.2 Some web space
• 3.3 A repository
• 3.4 A formal announcement
• 4 Project structure
• 4.1 Subsetting Debian
• 4.2 Using tasksel and meta packages
• 4.3 Deciding what to include
• 5 Sustaining the project
• 6 First release
• 6.1 Readying for release
• 6.2 So now you have users
• 6.3 Building on the first release

Debian Subproject HOWTO